Lucius Annaeus Seneca, De Vita Beata [On the Happy Life]

Matheus Clemente De Pietro (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt)

Ed. by Jula Wildberger, The American University of Paris
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 50

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Dialogue

Resources

De vita beata is one of the ten extant so-called Dialogi written by Seneca. It discusses the theme of happiness from a Stoic point of view.

The addressee is Seneca’s older brother Iunius Annaeus Gallio (consul suffectus 56 CE). While governor of Greece (at that time the province of Achaea) in 51-52 CE (SIG 2 801 D), he is said to have dismissed charges that a group of Jews had put against the Christian apostle Paul of Tarsus (Acta apostolorum 18.12-17). Like Seneca himself, Gallio was extremely wealthy and counted among the “friends” of the current emperor Claudius (SIG 2 801 D; Mratschek-Halfmann 1993: 308).

The date of De vita beata is unknown. Seneca calls his …

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1949 words

Citation: Clemente De Pietro, Matheus. "De Vita Beata". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 August 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=32161, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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